Bloomberg hires consultant tied to NY Senate Democrats after spending millions to boost GOP in Albany
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Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2013, a year after he wrote a $1 million check to the New York State Senate Republican Campaign Committee. Photo by Kristen Artz.
By David Brand
After spending millions of dollars to help Republicans maintain control of the New York State Senate, ex-Mayor Michael Bloomberg has hired a consulting firm long tied to the Senate Democratic conference to boost his presidential campaign — even as some of the firm’s other clients court the left wing of the party.
Bloomberg’s presidential campaign owes $188,000 to the Parkside Group, a Manhattan-based campaign consulting and lobbying firm that has run the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee’s polling and voter-turnout efforts since 2010, according to a financial disclosure report filed with the Federal Election Commission on Feb. 20. Parkside has handled “signature gathering” to ensure Bloomberg appears on primary ballots, according to the disclosure report.
Parkside’s work for Bloomberg unites former foes who for years fought for control of the state senate.
During his 12 years as New York City mayor, Bloomberg contributed $2.24 million in six installments to the New York State Senate Republican Campaign Committee, according to reports filed with the state Board of Elections. That total includes a $1 million dollar check to the Senate Republican campaign committee in 2012, the largest sum ever received by the GOP general fund.
That same year, the DSCC paid Parkside $215,147.65 for polling, campaign materials and literature to assist Democratic candidates and counter the Bloomberg-backed GOP, according to financial records. Though senators running as Democrats won a majority of seats in 2012, a breakaway faction known as the Independent Democratic Conference agreed to caucus with Senate Republicans, ensuring the GOP retained power. Bloomberg gave the IDC $75,000 that year.
Parkside continues to handle the majority of the DSCC’s polling and campaign literature and helped Democrats win control of the state senate in 2018.
The DSCC paid Parkside $240,000 to conduct polling in October and November 2019, a sum that accounted for nearly 100 percent of the committee’s spending in the most recent six-month disclosure period.
“They are a vendor of ours that does excellent work and played a pivotal role in helping us secure the most progressive legislature in history,” said Senate Majority spokesperson Mike Murphy. “Like all successful consultants, they have numerous clients that we do not specifically approve or disapprove.”
Parkside partner Evan Stavisky declined to comment on the work for Bloomberg. Bloomberg’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
In addition to the financial ties with the DSCC, Stavisky and Parkside have deep connections to individual Democratic senators, particularly in Queens.
Stavisky is a Democratic district leader in Queens and the son of State Sen. Toby Stavisky, who recently condemned Bloomberg’s big spending on Senate Republicans.
Bloomberg’s contributions “stuck in the craw,” she told Gothamist in December 2019. “It was not appreciated. Many in the conference were very unhappy, myself included,” she said.
Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris, another Queens district leader, is a close friend of Evan Stavisky and a Parkside client. Gianaris has endorsed Bernie Sanders for president amid a leftwing surge among voters in his Western Queens district.
During the most recent campaign finance period, Gianaris paid Parkside $21,403.50 for printing campaign literature inspired by the graphic design identity used by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in her 2018 campaign for Congress.
Gianaris has himself received money from Bloomberg. He got to checks totaling $4,345 from Bloomberg in 2005, when he was a member of the state Assembly. Gianaris did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
Parkside’s work for Bloomberg could undermine Democrats’ overtures to the left wing of the party, which fueled criminal justice reform, tenants’ rights bills and other progressive legislation during the last session, said a progressive political strategist, who asked to speak on background because of continued dealings with Senate Democrats.
“The real shift is the notion that Parkside or the folks running the Senate Democrats are actual progressives,” the strategist said. “They’re more ambitious party leaders who understand that progressives are ascendant within the party and accommodating them and their agenda is frankly smarter and more realistic than fighting them is.”
“The bigger question is how will progressives hold the folks running the state senate responsible for their increasingly problematic relationships, whether that’s charter school money or Bloomberg money or Big Pharma money,” the strategist added.
Aaron Taube, a spokesperson for the Queens chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, said it was “disappointing that a Democratic consulting firm would choose to work with a Republican billionaire who did as much as anyone to create New York City’s housing crisis.”
Nevertheless, he added, “it’s not exactly a surprise.”
“The entire New York political establishment relies on cynical consulting firms like Parkside to get its message out to the depressingly small percentage of people who turn out to vote in local elections,” Taube said.
